A Quest
by DarkFonist
Summary: 13: Jonathan and Charlotte finally find a cat for Wind.
1. The 'Spinning Art'

"Jonathan," Wind said, turning to look at the vampire hunter. "There is a technique I'd like you to try...it's called the 'Spinning Art.'"

"The what...?" Jonathan said, his eyebrows going up. "That sounds kind of...dumb."

"Oh? Well I suppose you don't really want to learn it, then..." the spirit replied.

"N-No, that's not it, I, uh..." Jonathan turned to Charlotte for help, but she just gave him a look that said he was on his own. "Just tell me about it."

"It is somewhat complicated, so make sure you listen carefully," Wind said, continuing as though the previous exchange had not even occurred.

Jonathan nodded. "No problem!"

"First, start walking forwards, then immediately turn around and start walking backwards, then drop into a crouch, then start walking forwards, then attack with your weapon."

There was a silence.

"What?" Jonathan said simply, staring at the ghost. Wind's response was to simply stare at him. The hunter turned to the mage next to him, who simply shrugged.

"I suppose you should at least try it."

"Well, okay, I guess," Jonathan said with little confidence. He took a step forward, then turned and took a step backwards, dropped into a crouch for a moment, then started forward again. With a shout, he swung his whip forward, hearing it crack against the empty air.

He paused for a moment. "Is that it...?"

Wind shook his head. "No, you need to do it faster. Otherwise it is just a normal attack."

"Um, all right..." Jonathan performed the motions again, more quickly, with the same result.

"Faster!" Wind repeated, as Jonathon turned to look at him.

"Faster?" Jonathan asked incredulously, his facial expression clearly showing his disbelief. "Okay, fine...!"

With a serious look on his face, Jonathan got set in his stance and started the series of positions again. He started to duck into the crouch, reaching for his whip in preparation for the strike. He then immediately started to stand, but his foot slipped and he lost his balance, causing him fall forward. The hunter barely managed to save himself by turned the move into a sloppy forward roll, which, while preventing him from landing face-first on the stone, did leave him lying awkwardly on the ground.

Charlotte started to laugh at the maneuver, and Jonathan quickly picked himself up, blushing with embarrassment.

"H-Hey, it's not funny!" He protested, clenching his free hand into a fist.

"Well done," Wind said, nodding but otherwise remaining perfectly calm. "You've mastered the 'Spinning Art.' It was a bit sloppy, but not bad for a beginner."

Jonathan's jaw dropped open at this. "What? You could have just asked me to do a forward roll!"

"Hm." Wind looked as though he was actually considering the idea. "I suppose so. I'll keep it in mind the next time someone comes to the castle and I want to teach them the 'Spinning Art.'" The ghost turned slightly towards Charlotte, who was still trying and fail to stop giggling. "Your partner seems to find it amusing, though."

"Oh yeah?" Jonathan said defiantly. "Well...well I want to see _you_ do it then!"

Wind chuckled quietly. "I have no need, when I have this." Running directly at Jonathan and turning about just as he impacted the hunter, the spirit slid along the ground almost like a backdash. Jonathon spun around and looked him in the eye, but before he could speak, Wind continued. "And before you ask; it _does_ work even if you aren't a ghost. I call it 'Omnia Vanitas.'"

"Why don't you just teach me that then?" Jonathan asked, completely confused and annoyed he has a skill with such a silly name compared to that.

"Very well," Wind said. "I'll teach it to you if you bring me 200 Potions..."

Jonathan hesitated for less than a second. "No problem. I can do that."

"...**at once**."

* * *

_Curse you, item cap._


	2. Heal

"Charlotte," Wind said, turning to look at the young mage. "I can teach you a healing spell. Come back wearing a nun outfit and I'll teach it to you."

"W-What?" Charlotte started, embarrassed by such a request. "T-That's absurd!"

"If you don't want to, that's fine by me, I suppose," Wind said dismissively. "It could turn out bad if your friend over there was attacked by a ghost and injured, however..."

"Why don't you just teach it to me?" The witch demanded. Wind simply crossed his arms, his position on the matter obvious, even if nonsensical. "Hmph! Come on, Jonathon, we don't need _his_ help! Let's go!" She turned to find her companion staring stupidly off into space.

"Mmm...Charlotte in a nun outfit..." Jonathan said dreamily.

"I don't believe you! You, too!" Charlotte said in frustration before storming out of the room alone.

Jonathan started at this. "W-Whoa, hey, wait...!" The hunter turned to Wind. "I'll get her to wear it, no problem!" He then quickly followed after his partner.

"I don't believe it!" Charlotte said in exasperation, staring fiercely down the stairway before her.

"Well..." Jonathan started hesitantly as he came up on her left. "Why don't you just do it? No problem, right? I'm sure it would look nice on you."

Charlotte turned to the hunter, her face red with embarrassment covered with anger. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded advancing up next to him.

Jonathan leaned backwards, holding his hands up defensively. "Whoa, whoa! I-I didn't mean it! That's not...!" He stopped suddenly, but he had realized his mistake too late.

"What's **that** supposed to mean?" the mage demanded again, pushing him backwards to the stone wall.

"Eep..." Jonathan choked out. "Problem...!"

* * *

_Yes, I do realize there is a comic that is similar to this. In the name of honor, I did not steal the idea from it._

_And I think I fixed all of Jonath**a**n's name misspellings...  
_


	3. Miser Ring

"Come back, then, when you have no more money," Wind had said.

"What kind of request is this...?" Jonathan wondered aloud as they stepped out into the hallway, even though it wasn't much different from the usual strangeness that came from Wind.

"Wait," said Charlotte, stopping. "I have an idea."

Jonathan turned, curious. "Huh? What is it?"

"Let's just drop all the gold we've collected out here, then go back to Wind," the mage said with a grin. Jonathan's eyebrows went up for a moment, but then he nodded.

"Hey, I guess that could work," he admitted, and the two emptied their pockets of all the gold they had.

"It's perfect," Charlotte said. "We can get Wind back for all those other quests he made us do."

* * *

"Okay Wind, we have no money." Jonathan said, the two having had returned to his room.

The spirit raised his eyebrows. "Really? I think you still have some."

"Wha-What do you mean?" Jonathan asked, taken aback by Wind's response.

Wind smirked at the hunter's stammer. "As I thought...you dropped it all just outside, didn't you?"

Jonathan was speechless for a moment before he managed to ask, "How did you know?"

"A lucky guess," the ghost replied, his voice lacking any of the humility that usually went with such a statement.

Grumbling, the pair left again and began to pick up the gold they had left outside.

"How could he have known...?" Charlotte asked rhetorically as she picked up a bag of money. "This isn't fair..." Jonathan added nothing as they turned around again and headed past Wind to the makeshift shop in the next room.

There, they proceeded to purchase the useless goods until even the Potions were out of their price range.

"Ugh...that was surprisingly tiring..." Jonathan remarked as they returned to Wind. "Okay Wind, we have no money."

The spirit looked up at them. "Oh? It looks like you still have two gold."

"It's a hyperbole..." Charlotte said, fearing the worst.

Wind looked down again and closed his eyes. "And I wasn't using one. **No** money."

"What?" Jonathan said, more to himself than anyone in the room. "What are we supposed to spend 2 gold on?"

Wind just stared at him, which by now the two had figured out meant, 'Your problem.'

Jonathan and Charlotte headed out of the room and then looked at one another.

"I suppose we'll just have to collect exactly enough money to buy something..." Charlotte said, not particularly looking forward to it.

Jonathan could only groan as they continued further into the castle.

* * *

"Okay Wind, we have no money." Jonathan said to the spirit. It took some doing, but they had finally collected exactly enough money such that they could spend all of it and be left with nothing.

"Ah, good," Wind replied, nodding his approval. "Very well, here you are." From inside his coat the ghost produced a small ring, which he handed to Jonathan.

"What is it?" Jonathan voiced the obvious question.

"The 'Miser Ring,'" Wind supplied. "The more gold you collect, the stronger it will make you."

"Huh. That sounds..." The hunter paused suddenly, realizing fully what the ghost had said. "Wait, what?"

"You had us spend every coin we had," Charlotte continued, picking up on Jonathan's train of thought. "And our reward is a ring that gets more powerful the more money we save?"

"Yes," Wind answered simply.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Jonathan stated the obvious. This was Wind, after all.

The spirit gave the hunter a look that said as much.

"You know what?" Jonathan mumbled, mostly to himself. "I give up. Charlotte, let's go." The red-clad hunter turned and the pair made their way out of the room.

Wind chuckled quietly after the two had left. "I suppose I should wait until they collect some more money to tell them I have another..."

* * *

_Thoughts? For some reason, this one just doesn't seem as well-written as the two previous ones..._

_...I feel I'm really making Wind unlikeable._

_For those who care, I have plans for at least a couple more chapters here. The only thing is to put words to the plot and hopefully keep everyone in character..._


	4. 失われた呪禁 ― The Lost Curse

"Go get cursed, then come back and talk me," Wind said.

Jonathan nodded in acceptance and then left, Charlotte following.

"Finally, something remotely reasonable..." the mage sighed as they walked along the stone corridor.

Jonathan agreed, adding, "So, where can we find a monster to get cursed by?"

Charlotte had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, I've been keeping records about the monsters we've been fighting," she said, producing a surprisingly new-looking book. "I might have made some notes about that." The mage began flipping through the pages as Jonathan stepped up and began to read over her shoulder.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," the hunter commented, noting the detail of the information his partner had compiled.

Charlotte blushed slightly at Jonathan's off-hand compliment. "N-No, it's not really anything special... Someone had to do it, and you didn't seem like the type."

"Hey!" Jonathan complained, though it was mostly with mock hurt. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's true," the mage insisted, her gaze not leaving the pages of the book. "How about this one?" The page showed a rough sketch of the monster they had nicknamed the 'Killer Doll' and some random notes about how it fought.

"Those marionette things?" Jonathan asked rhetorically. "That sounds fine."

Closing the bestiary and pulling out a well-used sheet of paper, Charlotte revealed the castle map they had bought when they had first entered the castle. Now, however, it had random notes and additions drawn all over it.

"There is a warp room nearby some in the Tower of Death. We can get cursed and take the warp point back to the entrance here," Charlotte indicated the room in the entrance. "Then return to Wind. How's that?"

The hunter nodded. "Let's do it."

* * *

Jonathan's sword sliced cleanly through the marionette's body, and it fell to pieces before bursting into flames as the dark magic holding it together expired.

"All right, let's go back to Wind," the hunter said to his partner as they started heading back to the warp room. Even without the magic of his subweapons, it wasn't as though Jonathan would have any problems with monsters here anyway.

Back in at the castle entrance, the pair made there way back to Wind's chambers. The trip was actually fairly short and lacking in monsters so they felt no need to hurry.

"How does the curse affect you, exactly?" Charlotte suddenly asked.

"Huh? Oh, well, let's see..." Jonathan thought for a moment.

"I mean, for me, I can't cast spells because it prevents me from tapping into the mana in myself and the surroundings... But you don't cast spells ever."

"Well, the sub-weapons I carry are all magic." Jonathan produced the throwing knife he carried from his belt. "Like this knife, magic is how it flies straight and returns to me after I've thrown it." He re-sheathed the knife. "Otherwise it's really just a normal throwing knife, which wouldn't be very useful."

The mage nodded. "That makes sense."

Jonathan turned his gaze forward as he descended the steps into Wind's room. "Hey, Wind. I went and got cursed."

The spirit looked up at him. "You don't look cursed to me," he observed.

"He did," Charlotte insisted. "It just faded before we got back!"

Wind looked thoughtful. "How do you I know you aren't just saying that?"

"Wha – but you knew about the money!" Jonathan protested.

"I told you. That was a lucky guess," Wind replied. There was a moment of silence and Jonathan and Charlotte stared at the ghost.

"Fine, whatever," Jonathan said resignedly.

* * *

Repeating the process, the hunter and the mage set a brisker pace this time, but it was very close. Jonathan could feel the effects fading as he rushed into the room.

"Wind!" he shouted.

"Calm down," the spirit replied. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"The curse!" Jonathan said, hoping to get to the point quickly.

Wind's eyebrows went up in surprise. "What? You've found a cure for vampirism? Incredible!" He paused and looked over the hunter. "Unless you are talking about that quest I gave you. Haven't you finished it yet?"

Jonathan, having noticed the curse's effects fade while the ghost was talking, mumbled something offensive under his breath and left the room with Charlotte.

Wind sighed. "I wonder if I should remind them about those magical tickets..."


	5. The Vampire Killer

"All right," Jonathan said confidently. "Let's do this!"

The sisters looked to one another and nodded before beginning the incantation. A bright flash of white light consumed Jonathan's vision before it faded, revealing a large, barren-looking room.

"Is this inside the whip, or something...?" he wondered aloud before he noticed tendrils of energy moving together and forming a figure some distance from him.

The silhouette slowly faded from pitch-dark to color, as though stepping from shadow into light. It was a man, older than Jonathan, who wore a blue coat not all too dissimilar from Jonathan's own. His hair was long and brown but somewhat wavy. Jonathan noted the various weapons that were on the man's belt: a throwing knife, a small hand ax, a vial of holy water, a cross.

And in his hand, the Vampire Killer.

"I've been waiting for you," the blue-clad hunter spoke.

"Are you...the memory of the whip, a Belmont?" Jonathan asked carefully.

"I am Richter Belmont," the man supplied. "Now...show me your resolve!" Jonathan was unprepared for the Belmont's speed and took a solid hit from his opponent's Vampire Killer in his chest. The attack knocked Jonathan backwards, and he barely managed to land on his knees. The attack had been much stronger than he had expected. Gripping his sword with both hands, he made to stand, but Richter was upon him.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Richter taunted before delivering another powerful blow Jonathan, ending his life.

…

Or rather, would have, had he not been a phantom within the whip. As it was, there was a flash of white light as Jonathan was ejected from the whip and landed with thud on the (luckily) carpeted floor.

"Ugh..." the hunter managed to choke out. The nature of the ritual prevented him from suffering any fatal wounds, but he was still injured.

Charlotte was at Jonathan's side in moments, and a few healing spells later he was standing again.

"Are you all right?" the mage asked, a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah...I didn't expect the Vampire Killer to be so powerful." Jonathan glanced at the magic whip, which lay on the floor next to the Stella and Loretta. After a moment, he nodded, stepping forward. "All right. I'm going to try again."

The sisters nodded and the familiar white light consumed Jonathan as he was again transported to where he would fight Richter.

Saying nothing, the Belmont took his cross from his belt and channeled his holy power into it before throwing it in a move familiar to Jonathan, who could not help but chuckle.

"As if that would affect me...I'm not a–" the red-clad hunter started to speak but cut off by the cross hitting him in the chest. Stumbling back, Jonathan was surprised. "But it's a holy item, and I'm a human, it should–" Jonathan began speaking again but was interrupted again, this time by Richter delivering a mid-air spinning kick to his side, following by a whip strike which sent Jonathan back to the castle again.

"Jonathan..." Charlotte started as she approached the hunter's collapsed form. "Are you sure you want to keep trying?" She chanted a few healing spells and Jonathan climbed to his feet.

"It's fine," he said. "I'm not going to let my guard down this time."

Another flash of white light and Jonathan was back to the face Richter again. He glanced around, unable to find the Belmont before he heard a loud shout directly behind him.

"Grand Cross!" Richter shouted, and the ground beneath Jonathan's feet glowed bright blue as the holy power surged upwards, knocking the younger hunter around before sending him to the floor.

"Not fair..." Jonathan complained as Charlotte crouched next to him, casting another healing spell. "He attacked me before we could even fight...!"

The mage sighed as she finished the spell. "Do you really–"

"Yes!" Jonathan insisted as he sat up. "I'm going to win and prove that I can use the Vampire Killer!"

* * *

Several attempts and subsequent healing spells later, Jonathan again entered the whip to fight with the memory.

"You can stop trying to defeat me anytime," Richter said in a rather carefree manner almost unfitting of him.

Jonathan, however, smirked in response and moved in, trying to bait the vampire hunter into attacking. The Belmont first threw a pair of throwing knives, but Jonathan jumped cleanly over them. Seeking to take advantage of the jump, Richter leapt up towards Jonathan, his whip at the ready.

"I've found your weakness!" Jonathan exclaimed triumphantly as he quickly invoked the power of the Stone of Flight, clearing Richter's head, as he twisted around mid-air and readied his own blade. "You can't change direction mid-jump!"

Jonathan's elation was short-lived, however, as the Belmont gripped the dagger at his side then suddenly generated a impressive velocity directly at the other hunter.

"You fool!" Richter shouted as he rushed through the air, cutting the area around him – which happened to include Jonathan, as he was in the way. The force of the blow sent Jonathan flying, and he nearly crashed into Charlotte when he suddenly found himself flying through the room back in the Master's Quarters.

"I think we should do something else..." Charlotte suggested as she again healed Jonathan, who was sitting against one of the walls. It was pretty clear the hunter wasn't getting anywhere and letting him continue to have at it was probably not going to accomplish anything. "Let's explore some of the areas we've been and see if we can find anything useful."

Jonathan grudgingly agreed to this, and the pair said their goodbyes to the sisters before setting off.

* * *

It was actually not long before they returned.

"Back again?" Richter asked, a confident look on his face. This faded, though, as the Belmont saw the very wicked grin on Jonathan's face.

"I was wondering," Jonathan began, his carefree voice at odds his unnerving smirk. "Do you like cream pies?"

* * *

_This was the last of my 'list of amusing concepts to writes fics about' concerning Portrait of Ruin. What that means is that there probably won't be another update until I get a good idea for another one-shot, which could be never. If you have any of your own ideas (and are too lazy to write them out yourself), I certainly wouldn't be adverse to you sending them in as a request of sorts. I won't promise anything, though, because that way I'm free of any responsibility (chuckles)._


	6. Prayer

"Buried beneath the rubble lays a sacred statue. Offer a prayer before it, retrieve the tear, and bring it to me."

"All right." Jonathan nodded, and left the room with Charlotte.

"Beneath the rubble...?" Charlotte murmured, trying to think of what Wind could have been referring to.

Jonathan didn't bother voicing the obvious question as to why Wind wasn't just more specific. "This whole castle is just a bunch of rubble...it could be anywhere."

"Wait." Charlotte looked up, seeming to have had an epiphany. "What about the Nation of Fools?"

Jonathan opened his mouth for a moment as if to say something, then nodded. "Okay then, I guess that makes sense."

The two stood there for a moment.

"Well?" Charlotte prompted. "Start walking!"

"...Where was the, uh, Nation of Fools, again?" Jonathan asked sheepishly.

Charlotte was silent for a second. "...It's above the Great Staircase." The mage pulled out the castle map and indicated the spot.

Jonathan looked over the map for a moment before nodding. "Got it. But...'Nation of Fools'?"

"Didn't you read the title of the painting?"

"They have titles?" Jonathan looked genuinely surprised.

Charlotte tried to refrain from smacking the hunter upside the head with her book. "Yes. The golden plaque underneath them."

"Huh. I never noticed that, I guess," Jonathan replied, turning to head for the Great Staircase. "What was–"

THWACK!

"Ouch, Charlotte! What was that for?"

* * *

"Hey, it looks like you were right," Jonathan commented. They stood before a white stone statue that, unlike the rest of the derelict buildings in vicinity, was obeying gravity and standing upright.

"Of course. Now we just have to offer a prayer, like Wind said."

There was a moment of silence as the pair did so.

Jonathan opened his eyes and looked up at the statue's face. "...Nothing?" Charlotte said nothing in response. The hunter produced one of his whips and swung it that statue, where it hit with a resounding crack, but otherwise had no effect.

"Jonathan! What was that for?" Charlotte asked, startled by the randomness of Jonathan's act.

"I don't know, I was just trying something."

"That was **not** offering a prayer."

The hunter was silent for a moment. "Maybe you should wear the Nun outfit and try it."

The mage's expression instantly changed. "There is **no** way I'm am changing into that again," she said darkly.

"Whoa whoa, calm down!" Jonathan held his hands up defensively. "It was just a suggestion!"

* * *

_A short while later..._

"I told you this wouldn't work!" Charlotte complained, glaring at Jonathan and the outfit she had been forced to wear in turn.

"Yeah...I mean, uh, I was just guessing!" Jonathan backed up slightly.

"This is pointless. I'm going to change," Charlotte said pointedly, and turned to exit the area.

"I'll wait here for you, then," Jonathan called after her, but received no response. He assumed that meant she had heard him.

The hunter turned back to look up at the statue and let out a sigh, wondering how they were supposed to get a tear from a statue. He idly brushed aside some of the blonde hair in his face, but then felt something hit him on the top of the head.

"What the–?" Jonathan turned in surprise and found a small blue crystal shaped like a tear drop. Grabbing the item, the hunter knew it had to be what they were looking for. He didn't know how he had done it, but he had done it, and that was all that mattered, right?

* * *

"I swear, Charlotte! That's not it at all!" Jonathan shouted behind him as he ran from a very angry Charlotte, ducking fireballs and ice shards among other things. "I didn't know you were still changing!" The hunter darted sideways to avoid another blast of fire that very nearly singed his jacket.

Luckily for him, Jonathan had managed to get a noticeable lead on Charlotte since he had both a time advantage and could run faster.

"Wind!" Jonathan cried as he burst into the room. "Help me, please!"

"Here you are," the spirit said, not fazed in the least as he handed Jonathan a bottle of some kind.

"What is it?" Jonathan replied, try to catch his breath.

"Holy water," Wind replied.

"What? How is that supposed to help me?"

"You can use it to defeat monsters," Wind said matter-of-factly. "I should think you would know that by now."

"But I need something to help with _Charlotte_!" Jonathan protested.

Wind's eyebrows went up. "What about her?" Jonathan wondered if Wind was just purposefully delaying him.

"She's trying to–" Jonathan started.

"You're dead, Jonathan!" came the mage's shout from just outside the room.

"Ah, I see." The spirit began, nodding slightly. "Well, if you'd valued your life I would have expected you to hide somewhere other than a dead end room."

"I–!" Jonathan tried to think of something to say.

"If you want my help, though, I suppose I can."

"Thank you!" Jonathan said, relieved.

"But you'll need to collect three different kinds of mushrooms first."

* * *

_Poor Jonathan. He always seems to have the worst time when I'm writing._


	7. And when they leave, they'll be rich

Dracula could sense his two opponents approaching the throne room. The Dark Lord smirked as he looked into the wine glass he held in his hand. He may not be at his full power, but he could easily deal with fools like them. As thanks for defeating that worthless Brauner, the vampire would end their lives quickly.

Then, something changed. It seemed his foes were retreating.

_What folly..._ Dracula thought to himself. _They only delay the inevitable._

But then they began coming near again, only to turn around once they neared the entrance. This repeated several times before the vampire began to grow irritated.

He was standing here by his throne, his back to the entrance, ready to make a dramatic pre-battle dialogue scene and here these idiots were wasting his time. He turned his head slightly.

"Death!" he called. Dracula's trusted confidant was at his side immediately.

"Master."

"Go and tell me what those worthless fools are doing out there!" the Dark Lord commanded, and Death was gone with but a bow.

Dracula needed only wait a few more moments before Death was at his side again.

"My Lord, they run up and down the stairway before your throne room, but never approach any closer," the skeletal being reported.

"Why?" Dracula demanded, not seeing the point.

"They break every candle on the stair each time using a spell that grants magical speed," Death added. "I cannot fathom the purpose."

Dracula growled, clenching his glass tighter. "This is stupid!" Had Death been so disposed, he might have been surprised at the Dark Lord's choice of wording.

There was a time of silence as Dracula simply stood there, feeling the vampire hunters outside his keep ascend and descend the stairs repeatedly.

The silence was then suddenly broken by something else breaking. Namely, Dracula's wine glass as he threw it against the wall. He let out an unearthly roar, and had he been at full power, the castle itself perhaps would have shaken it response. But as it was, no one heard him but Death, who floating stoically at his master's side.

"Those _in_solent _fools_! How dare they!" Dracula exclaimed at no one in particular. Who knows how long they planned to stay out there before they finally confronted him.

* * *

"Jonathan?" Charlotte asked as she recast the spell. "How much longer are we going to keep this up?"

"Hey, come on, we need to be prepared for Dracula," Jonathan argued as they started up the steps. "We don't know how powerful he'll be, so we need to make sure we have as many options as possible."

The mage blinked in surprise. "That's surprisingly logical, coming from you."

Jonathan chose to ignore that comment. "So I was thinking we could do this for maybe an hour or so."

"That's a while..." Charlotte started. "But I suppose we should take no chances with the Dark Lord."

* * *

_An hour or so later..._

"I swear it!" Dracula shouted, his voice echoing ominously throughout the room. "If those fools do not come in here **right now **I'll...!"

Just then, Death spoke. "My lord, they appear to be leaving the keep."

* * *

_I had to imagine what it was like for the Count while I spent about two hours grinding money on the candles outside his keep._


	8. Cube 1

"So, Wind..." Jonathan started to ask after Charlotte had walked over to Vincent's to buy some supplies with the money they had just acquired. "I have something I want to ask." Wind looked over at the hunter, who continued speaking. "About Charlotte and me."

The ghost's eyebrows went up for a moment at that. "Oh?"

"Whenever we're together, it seems like we can't both do well at the same time." Jonathan was being rather vague, and Wind could only guess as to what he was talking about. "I don't really understand it," Jonathan said, scratching the back of his head absently. "I mean, we never had this problem _before_ we entered the castle."

"Are you certain you just didn't notice before? Within the castle and outside of the castle would be different, I imagine," Wind tried.

"I think we would've noticed it before," Jonathan said, looking at the spirit. "I mean, it's really stupid things..." The hunter trailed off. "In the clock tower, it was especially bad..."

"Can you be more specific?" Wind pressed slightly.

"Well, I remember it was particularly bad when we were with Death," Jonathan started, looking down as he recalled the events.

"...With Death?" Wind said slowly, considering what the hunter had said.

Jonathan looked up and nodded. "Well, yeah. It was really tough but we managed. I mean, there was one point when Death opened magic portals with hands and chains...that was the worst."

Wind made a 'hmm' noise but offered nothing else.

"I just don't see why we can't both fight well at the same time. It's always just one of us. I mean, I guess it worked out with Death... When he was vulnerable to magic, Charlotte did well, and when he was vulnerable to physical attacks, I was fighting well..."

Wind suddenly stopped short for a moment and nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see."

"Huh?" Jonathan could only say. "You know why?"

"No, not that." Wind said, shaking his head. "I had thought you were talking about romance."

Jonathan blinked, then blushed bright red. "What? No!"

"Well, you can't say it wasn't expected," the spirit commented, almost offhandedly.

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan managed to ask, trying to regain his composure.

"Come now." Wind looked down at the hunter, which might have been condescending had he not been wearing a slight smirk. "A wedding dress? A tuxedo? A magic engagement ring that transfers damage done to Charlotte to you?" Jonathan started to say that he didn't follow, but Wind continued to speak. "Clearly, the power of the castle is responding to your hidden **love**."

"Jonathan," Charlotte called as she returned from the shop next door. "I've bought us some additional healing potions as well as–"

"Great! Time to go!" Jonathan said quickly, cutting the mage off. Taking her by the arm, he began leading her back into the main area of the castle.

"I'm not going to let you live this down, Jonathan, so long as you are here," Wind called playfully after the two, a wide smile on his face.

* * *

_And as for Jonathan's actual problem, conveniently forgotten...it must be those accursed cubes._


	9. Cube 0 ― Talk

_This is getting rea__lly annoying..._ Jonathan complained to himself as he barely managed to dodge one of Death's scythe swings. The hunter had bid Charlotte stay back as Death seemed to be able to resist her spells at will, and he preferred that she stay out of danger.

Jonathan brandished his whip and knocked down several small scythes that were in his way before moving in to try to get close to the skeletal being.

An unearthly noise echoed throughout the clock tower as Death chuckled. "You would do well to prepare yourself..." it said ominously, and in a flash four portals appeared around the hunter. Jonathan prepared to dodge, but even he wasn't fast enough to escape the grip of the hand that shot out of the upper portal. The minute the hunter was seized, three other hands shot out as well, holding Jonathan helplessly in mid-air.

Death chuckled again and floated backward, and Jonathan didn't need to guess that the reaper was planning on hitting him with all it had while he was trapped. The hunter struggled for a moment before realizing the futility of his actions.

"Charlotte! Help me!" he called out, and the mage ran in and began to hack at the chains with her tome. This however, got them nowhere fast as the chains were difficult even for Jonathan to break and Charlotte's physical prowess definitely was not up to his. "What are you doing? Use a spell!"

"Right!" Charlotte acknowledged, and began chanting.

"I see it!" the echoing voice of Death said. "I see your death!" Jonathan risked a look over at the reaper and saw that it's scythe looked much more menacing, covered with a fiery red aura.

"Hurry!" Jonathan shouted, struggling pointlessly against the vice grip of the hands.

"Spirits, grant firmness to the flesh! Raise constitution!"

Jonathan's mouth dropped open. How was that supposed to help him, except for maybe implicitly saying that he was going to get hit?

"What are you doing?" Jonathan practically screamed. When there was no response, he tried again. "Charlotte, use Tempest or something!"

The mage began chanting again, and Jonathan struggled uselessly, hoping Charlotte would just hurry up.

"Wind, turn to blades and cleave mine enemies asunder! Tempest!" The tornado spun outwards from the mage, buffeting each of the chains until they fell to pieces, just as Death began to rush at the hunter. Falling from the now destroyed chains, Jonathan just managed to slip under the attack, watching as Death sailed to the other side of the room.

Managing to keep his footing, Jonathan turned and grabbed his partner and shook her by the shoulders. "Charlotte, snap out of it! Talk to me!"

"You can unpetrify your partner by attacking them," Charlotte said calmly as she limply went back and forth, almost like a ragdoll.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jonathan as he stared into Charlotte's glassy eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"You can't be on alert when petrified, so watch out," she continued, stating it matter-of-factly, as though nothing were wrong.

A demonic laugh sounding behind him told Jonathan he had no more time to try to diagnose whatever was wrong with Charlotte. An attempt to attack, however, revealed that the reaper had again began resisting physical damage, having dropped its resistance to Charlotte's spells in exchange.

Throw its hands outwards, Death summoned forth a cage of chains and spun his scythe outwards, allowing it to bounce freely around. Charlotte slid under the oncoming projectile, but Jonathan did not respond fast enough.

"Are you all right?" Charlotte called to Jonathan before beginning to cast another of her spells. Though they did have to worry about Death's scythe flying about, the reaper was otherwise rather vulnerable at this point.

Jonathan didn't respond to Charlotte's question, however, simply running up and standing next to her as she continued her chant.

"Turn all to ash and ruin...Explosion!" Charlotte gestured towards Death and the ensuing fiery blast consumed it. With the reaper's scythe some distance away, Charlotte turned to her partner. "Jonathan, is something wrong?" He hadn't even attempted to attack their opponent; as weak as it may have been, anything would have been better than nothing.

"If we let him do what he wants, he'll definitely revive Dracula. We've got to stop him right here!"

"...That's not what I asked." Charlotte was about to continue, but noticed some of Death's mini-scythes flying dangerously close to them. Stepping backwards, she warned Jonathan. "Look out!"

Jonathan failed to heed the warning, however, and received a nice cut on his back as penance.

"Jonathan, pay attention!" Charlotte shouted before beginning another spell chant. "Light, grant strength to noble spirits that they might strike down evil! Spirit of light!"

Death let out another chuckle even as he felt the dual blows from the spell, swapping his resistances yet again.

"All right, now you're finished!" Jonathan shouted, cracking his whip and leaping at the skeletal being. With a shout, the hunter brought his weapon down on the reaper, actually managing to knock it backwards.

"Hmph. It seems you are stronger than I had first supposed..." Death mused out loud.

"That's right!" Jonathan said confidently. "Now you're going to pay for it!"

"Know that I was holding back," the creature said. "You still have much to do, and I would fain obstruct you now." With another evil chuckle, Death summoned his scythe and flew backwards, out of the tower and into the night sky surrounding the castle. "We shall meet again..."

Normally, Jonathan would have had another insult ready to fling after the fleeing skeleton, but right now he was more concerned with what had happened during the fight.

"...Charlotte," he started, turning towards his partner as they continued on through the room. "Was there anything strange you noticed about the fight with Death?" Jonathan approached the topic obliquely.

"Hm?" Charlotte's gaze turned thoughtful. "Well, there was the magical chains he summoned...I've never read anything about that in the records." She looked at the hunter. "Why? Is there something else...?"

Jonathan shook his head and waved off the question. "Nah, nothing important." It seemed Charlotte didn't remember what had happened.

_I wonder if Wind knows anything, _Jonathan thought to himself. _He seems to know a lot about the castle, after all..._


	10. Doppelganger

"I didn't expect a doppelganger to be that powerful..." Charlotte said quietly as the two sat resting in Vincent's shop.

"We'll just have to be more careful next time," Jonathan stood and said confidently, as he always was. "Next time will be–"

"–no problem, right?" Charlotte finished, a small grin on her face.

"Of course!" the hunter agreed with a smile. "So, let's go, then."

"Wait," Charlotte called, standing as well. "How about we ask Wind for advice? He might know–"

Jonathan shook his head and cut off the mage, having flashbacks of previous attempts to get Wind's help. "No no no, we can do this, just leave it to me."

With that, Jonathan took Charlotte's arm and began pulling her along towards the Nest of Evil, ignoring the curious look he got from the ghost as they passed by.

Just outside the room, Charlotte pulled free of Jonathan's grip. "Jonathan! I can walk by myself, you know!"

"Come on, let's go!" Jonathan said, barely turning and certainly not stopping, seemingly not caring for her remark at all.

Charlotte watched silent as he continued on ahead with a hurried pace. _I wonder why he doesn't want to talk to Wind,_ she thought. She briefly entertained the idea of turning around and asking the spirit directly, but then had a feeling the hunter might get himself killed by enemies if she wasn't there to keep an eye on him.

Surprisingly, Charlotte didn't catch up to Jonathan until she reached the door before the doppelganger's room. "Jonathan," she started, annoyed. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

Jonathan opened his mouth for a moment, but then paused as though considering what to say. "Uh...sorry?" he tried. Charlotte just narrowed her eyes. "Hey, don't be like that–"

The hunter was left rubbing the top of his head after Charlotte smacked him.

"Don't be stupid," she said simply.

_Don't be violent,_ Jonathan countered, but was smart enough not to say it aloud.

"What's so wrong with asking Wind for advice?" Charlotte pressed.

Jonathan's expression changed. "Please...don't ask."

The mage tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, staying silent for a moment. "...Fine," she said finally. "But if this doesn't work we are going to talk to Wind."

"All right then," Jonathan said, sounding a bit relived. "Let's do this."

The two approached the magical blue barrier and entered the chamber as it slid out of the way.

As soon as they entered, the pair could see that the doppelganger had taken Jonathan's form this time. For a few moments, it simply stood there, staring at them with a nonchalant look. Deciding not to waste time, Jonathan began to rush his copy, brandishing the Vampire Killer while Charlotte began a spell chant.

Before Jonathan had gotten even halfway there, the demon suddenly moved, his movements almost turning his arms to a blur. In flash, there were suddenly several paper airplanes flying directly towards them, all flying in single files.

"What the–?" Jonathan started to say, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the veritable attack squadron of folded paper. Managing to get his arms up to help defend against some of the blows, Jonathan tried to step out of the way, but the doppelganger was simply throwing so many that the attempt was futile.

"Jonathan...!" Charlotte called, ducking in the corner, shielding herself with her thick spellbook. "Do something!"

"Wh-What? What am I supposed to do?" Jonathan shouted back, not really in any better position than the mage to block or even attack their opponent. He was silent for a moment. "O-Okay, fine!" the hunter relented, getting an idea. Reaching into his pocket with one hand, he fished around and found the ring he was looking for, continuing to shield his face with his other arm.

The ring on his finger and it's power coursing through his body, Jonathan returned to shield his face from the airplanes while pushing forward towards the source. As he approached, he was able to see the doppelganger was doing something strange as it threw the airplanes; but Jonathan couldn't see particularly well and the moment he tried get closer the demon thrust the Alucard Spear into his chest, knocking the hunter backwards. Immediately, the doppelganger began throwing paper airplanes again, filling the room in an instant.

Just as Jonathan thought he was going to end up dying to a barrage of paper airplanes, and white light from a Magical Ticket consumed the room.

* * *

"That was too close..." Jonathan sighed in thought, the two back in Vincent's shop, and looked off to his side. "How did he even throw all those paper airplanes anyway...?"

"Yeah, that was a embarrassing," Charlotte commented, looking down. It was almost like the monster had been making fun of them!

"Yeah! How could he fold them that fast?" Jonathan agreed, clenching his fist. "I should be better than that!"

It took Charlotte a moment to realize what the hunter was talking about. "...You're missing the point," she said, looking at him.

Jonathan looked back, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Charlotte shook her head in resignation. "Nevermind." She looked up. "Now let's go speak to Wind about this."Ignoring Jonathan's protests, she led the hunter into the adjoining room and called out to the spirit, explaining the situation.

"Ah, so that's what you were talking about," Wind replied, nodding. "Allow me to teach you something useful." He turned to the hunter. "Jonathan."

"Wh-What?" Jonathan asked, nearly jumping at the spirit's call.

"Begin by folding the paper airplane," the ghost said, producing a piece of paper from his jacket. "As you do so, begin to jump backwards. Then, immediately duck, stand, and begin again."

Jonathan's mouth dropped open. "What? This sounds like another crazy process..."

"Stop complaining." Wind didn't even look at the hunter as he said that. "Watch. I will show it to you slowly. First, the airplane." Wind folded the paper as Jonathan always did and threw it forward, the plane gliding nicely before crashing into the wall.

"Now watch this," the spirit continued. Producing another square of paper, Wind folded the plane, but leapt back as he did so, somehow managing to throw the plane almost instantly.

"Whoa!" Jonathan exclaimed in surprise. "That was almost like–"

"Now consider this," Wind said, cutting off the hunter. The spirit began to jump back, but before he had gone very far, he dropped into a crouch. "And finally..."

"Finally...?" Jonathan said questioningly.

"Combine the techniques." Wind produced another sheet of paper and began folding it, leaping back as he did so. The plane was only just out of the ghost's hand when he dropped to a crouch and stood again. The plane was not even out of his reach and he was ready to throw another! "Now try it yourself, repeating the technique as you reach the end."

Several minutes – and a good pile of airplanes in the corner – later, Jonathan had gotten the hang of the technique and was able to throw his airplanes at the speed the doppelganger had been previously.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Jonathan said, feeling the options the new skill gave him.

"Indeed. The technique is called the 'backdash cancel'," Wind said.

"Wait," Charlotte stepped forward a bit. "How is this supposed to help us defeat the doppelganger?"

"Are you kidding?" Jonathan said in disbelief. "This could help us defeat **everything**!"

Charlotte shook her head. "But the subweapons will still take mana to use. You'd run out before you could accomplish anything. And besides, based on what I've read it seems unlikely that we would be able to stun the doppelganger effectively like that."

"Actually..." Wind began, taking a thoughtful pose. "For the problem of magic power...I have a ring that constantly draws power from the castle at great speeds. For your purposes, you might consider it infinite."

"What?" Charlotte had never heard of such a thing.

"Really? Why don't you give it to us then – it'd be really useful!" Jonathan said, approaching the ghost's side.

"Hmm, I suppose I could," Wind said. "But you'll need to do some things for me first."

Jonathan suddenly had a feeling of dread. "...What do you want?"

"Jonathan. Acquire and master every subweapon." He turned. "Charlotte. Acquire and master every spell, and while you are at it, defeat Gergoth with a normal book, rather than one of those magic ones you use all the time."

"That's going to take forever!" Jonathan said.

Wind simply shrugged. "I already showed you the 'backdash cancel' for free."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "Okay then. We'll work on that. But what about defeating the doppelganger?"

Wind looked thoughtful. "Tell me, how did it fight? Did it use your weapons against you?"

"Well, yeah," Jonathan replied. "Isn't that the point of a doppelganger?"

"No, that's not it. Not just any weapon. The one's you were using yourself," the spirit clarified.

Jonathan nodded, a curious look on his face. "...Yeah. I still don't see why a doppelganger wouldn't–"

Wind looked up. "I know of a very simple way."

Charlotte's eyebrows went up. "Really?"

The spirit nodded, but closed his eyes and looked down. "However...I imagine you won't be interested in trying it."

"What? Come on, just tell us," Jonathan said, sounding a bit annoyed.

Wind looked at the hunter for a moment before turning his gaze to Charlotte and gesturing for her to come over. When she did, the spirit whispered something into her ear.

Jonathan leaned up against the wall, wondering what the point was. It wasn't like Charlotte wouldn't just tell him what Wind had said, anyway.

"WHAT?" Charlotte cried out at the top of her lungs, the sudden sound causing Jonathan to nearly lose his balance leaning against the wall. "No no no no no! Never!" Her face was red with anger and embarrassment that Wind would even suggest something like that, and her hands gripped the book in preparation for using it as a blunt weapon. At the last second, though, it seemed she to change her mind and smacked Jonathan across the side of the head, sending the hunter to the ground.

"What did I do?" Jonathan exclaimed from his position on the ground, not understanding the girl's actions at all. Hearing hurried footsteps fading, Jonathan opened one eye carefully and looked about. No Charlotte, so he was probably clear to stand up. "What was that...?" Jonathan asked, more to himself than Wind.

"I apologize," Wind said, though Jonathan sincerely doubted the spirit was actually sorry. "It seems that you are cursed to always end up with...bad results, so to speak."

_I sincerely doubt he's actually sorry,_ Jonathan thought to himself as he got to his feet.

"I suppose you doubt that I'm actually sorry..." Wind approached the hunter. "When you approached the doppelganger, it wielded the Alucard Spear, correct?"

"Huh? Yeah, because I was," Jonathan said, looking at the weapon. While he did so, however, Wind took the spear from him. "Wha–Hey!"

"Stand within striking range," the spirit commanded, readying the spear. Looking at Wind strangely, Jonathan complied after a moment of hesitation. "Now dodge."

A flash of movement and Wind had the spear at Jonathan's chest.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Jonathan complained. Wind sighed, pulling the spear back to a ready position.

"Are you ready now?" Wind asked, sounding a bit impatient.

"Yeah, okay."

Wind thrust the Alucard Spear forward again, and Jonathan barely managed to get out of the way of the thrust, almost losing his balance in the process.

"As you can see, at this range, the spear has an advantage. However," Wind stepped up to within arm's reach of Jonathan. "At this position, the spear is at a great disadvantage. Dodge."

At such a close range, Jonathan was easily able to get around the shaft of the spear and avoid getting hit. After few moments of doing this, Wind nodded and pushed the Alucard Spear back into Jonathan's hands.

"Do you see the strategy?" the ghost asked.

"Yeah," Jonathan said, nodding. "Get in close, then use short range attacks, right?" The hunter paused for a moment, his brows furrowing in confusion. "I wonder why Charlotte was so against this."

Wind looked about to reply, but then stopped, looking thoughtful, as though he were considering all the possible options. He then slowly shook his head. "I have no idea."

"Well, anyway, I guess I'd better go catch up to her then." Jonathan nodded to the spirit and headed off towards the entrance to the doppelganger's room, where he correctly assumed Charlotte would be waiting.

"Hey, Charlotte. Are you okay?" Jonathan asked as he approached.

The mage refused to meet his gaze, but nodded. "Yes."

"Okay then, let's do this."

"O-Okay, fine! I'll do it!" Charlotte shouted suddenly, causing Jonathan to take a step back in surprise. "But you have to leave!"

Jonathan stared at the mage in confusion. "Uh...huh?" Not responding to his confused question, Charlotte forcefully shoved the hunter around the nearby corner, where he ordered him to wait while she went back to the doorway.

For a moment, Jonathan simply stood there, trying to figure out what was going on. Charlotte was acting rather strangely; and what did this have to do with defeated the doppelganger?

"Charlotte, I–" Jonathan started as he started around the corner, but froze upon what he saw. "WHY ARE YOU TAKING YOUR CLOTHES OFF?

* * *

_Ended up being much longer than I expected..._

_In case it wasn't implied well enough, what Wind told Charlotte was to strip so the doppelganger would have nothing to use against them – the classic strategy PoR players ought to be familiar with. Also managed to get in a reference to backdash canceling!_

_Anyway, all was according to Wind's plan. He did consider the possible options of things to tell Jonathan:_

_1. The truth about what he said (too boring)  
2. Shrug (potential later!)  
3. That Charlotte was too embarrassed to get close to Jonathan (not as good as the above)_

_Obviously he went with 2, and it played out flawlessly. I'm pretty sure he ships Jonathan x Charlotte._

_Also: a bit of the first dialogue in Japanese. The English can't show off Jona-san's katakana English technique._

J: 今度は、  
C: ノープロブレムだ、ね？  
J: オフコース！じゃ、レッツゴー。


	11. A Time Trial

"Go to the clocktower when the hour hand points to the twelve."

"You mean at noon, or midnight?" Jonathan asked, not sure whether to be suspicious of or surprised at the ease of the request.

"Yes," Wind replied.

"...Okay." Jonathan blinked and headed out of the room with Charlotte.

"Remember, this is training to defeat Brauner!" the ghost called after them, almost too cheerily.

Jonathan and Charlotte just glanced at each other as they left.

* * *

"It's going to be a little while before noon..." Charlotte noted as they approached the top of the Tower of Death, near where the clocktower was situated.

"Yeah, I was just going to sleep until then," Jonathan said, entering the nearby safe room. He went and sat up against the wall, closing his eyes.

"What? Isn't there anything else you could do?" Charlotte asked, sounding surprised despite the hunter's statement not being particularly out of line for him.

There was no response.

* * *

_Time to take out Dracula!_ Jonathan thought to himself as he headed down the stone hallway. Not even two steps forward, however, he encountered a sizable group of multicolored, caped twins. Aside from the color variations, they all looked exactly alike.

The hunter was met with a chorus of, "Well met, friend." Apparently they all sounded the same, too.

"...Hey there," he said, a bit hesitant due to the oddity of the situation. They all turned from him and faced forward, Jonathan joining them.

_Well, I guess we'd better move out,_ he thought to himself, heading up a short stairway into a parlor of sorts, lit by extravagant looking chandeliers. Before him stood a suit of armor, carrying a sizable knight's lance in one hand, and what one would presume was its own head in the other.

He leapt forth and struck the head, knocking it from the grip of the armor. Instead of falling to the ground, however, it flew off into the air in odd arc, swerving unnaturally through the air as the armor shift into a battle stance.

Jonathan ducked sideways to dodge the armor's thrust before getting in a few hits in on the flying head again. He glanced backwards to see all the Alucards standing idly in the doorway, chanting "Impressive" at his strikes.

The hunter dodged backwards and called out to them. "Over here! Aren't you going to help me?"

The chant quickly turned to "All yours". Jonathan stared at them incredulously, the distraction proving damaging as the Dullahan hit him solidly in the back.

They all shouted "No!" in response as Jonathan got back to his feet, before returning to "All yours".

_What, they aren't going to fight...? Ugh. _The hunter rolled his eyes as he finished off the opponent. "Impressive" was echoed several times after this, but the words were empty as they clearly weren't actually helping Jonathan.

Jonathan couldn't believe he was even waiting for the Alucard group. All this way, and not one of them had helped out even once; yet now he was waiting above a room filled with Medusa Heads, making sure they all got up safely.

There was quite a bit of "No!" and "My apologies" between them as the group finally made their way up.

"Okay, let's go," Jonathan said, a bit wearily, heading up the steps.

"All yours."  
"All yours."  
"All yours."

Jonathan stopped before a plate of pizza lying conveniently on the stone landing. "Here." He swung the Vampire Killer forward and destroyed the false covering on the wall, revealing an additional plate of Quiche. Whatever that was.

"Thank you" was said repeatedly was the reply as the Alucards picked up the food and ate it. The Medusa Heads had been quite a trouble for some of them.

The opponent in the next room caused Jonathan to groan. "A Final Guard...? I'm not going to get any breaks, am I..."

Predictably, the Alucards piled up in the doorway chanting "All yours".

It was a long and arduous process for the vampire hunter, as each each strike from the Vampire Killer barely even dented the armor, much less cause it to flinch.

Each attack would be praised with a series of "Impressive!"s from Jonathan's followers. Each failed dodge, "No!" Any time between those was filled with "All yours". It was wearing on Jonathan's nerves when he finally did the armored knight in.

"Finally...I guess that's why there called 'Final' Guards," the hunter said sarcastically as he continued forward, Alucards in tow.

…

"A_nother_ one?" Jonathan couldn't believe it. It was as if some malicious entity had designed the castle specifically to be annoying for Jonathan this time around. Some entity with a white trenchcoat and a magic book.

The Alucards filed in and, seeing the threat before then, leapt up onto a safe ledge and began the usual "All yours".

"Okay, fine! You're going down!" Jonathan shouted heatedly, rushing the armor with Vampire Killer at the ready. In a great show of anti-climaticism, the hunter ran forth and held his whip outwards, letting it dangle limply where it continued to do damage. "How do you like that?"

Unfortunately, in his zeal, he failed to notice the Final Guard preparing a counterattack of its own. The sword didn't hit him, but the forward step the armor took while slashing certainly did, hurting as much as the blade might have.

Moving quickly, Jonathan scrambled to get to a safer position, sighing in relief as he managed to reach the doorway. He turned and look towards the back of the Final Guard, realized he had somehow gotten past it. _Wait, this'll make it an easy kill!_

He moved forward again and began attacking the armor's back, where its ability to respond was very limited. Then, quickly as the first, he had another epiphany. _What am I even doing? I can just keep going now, and don't need to worry about those other guys!_

Jonathan leapt backwards again, hearing the "Impressive" and "All yours" coming from the group on the ledge. He brushed some of his hair aside and smirked. "Later!" With that he turned and headed towards the keep's final approach.

The Alucards slowly fell silent, the "All yours" fading into a silence as they watched Jonathan leave them behind.

"No!" the first said, turning to the others.  
"No!"  
"No!"

Jonathan chuckled to himself as he climbed the red-carpeted staircase. His 'allies' had really been asking for it, after all.

* * *

"Jonathan, get up!" Charlotte practically shouted at the hunter.

His eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet, looking around as if expecting to be under attack. "I wasn't–! Huh?"

The mage rolled her eyes. "You almost slept through it. It's almost noon, and I'm not waiting another 12 hours to do this."

"Oh, right," Jonathan said in realization. "Okay, let's go then." The pair then headed out of the room and into the main clocktower room, where they saw the large clock across the way approaching noon.

"Good, we got here in time."

They stood around for a few seconds until the hands hit noon and a telltale gong resounded twelve times.

"All right, time to head back," Jonathan said nodding, and the two turned only to find their exit blocked by an unexpected obstacle. A glowing, onate-looking door, to be exact.

There was a pause as Jonathan and Charlotte looked to one another, before the enormity of the problem dawned upon them like sorrowful aria.

* * *

"Jonathan, get up!" Charlotte practically shouted at the hunter.

His eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet, looking around as if expecting to be under attack. "I wasn't–! Huh?"

"You slept through it! It's past noon!" Charlotte didn't look happy, for obvious reasons.

"I, uh...oops? Sorry?" Jonathan tried sheepishly. "Uh, I think we probably shouldn't go in there, anyway."

His partner looked at him, her expression changing to confusion. "...What? Why?"

The hunter was silent for a moment. "I–" he drew out the syllable as he tried to figure out why, in fact, he thought so. "–am not really sure..."

Charlotte sighed. "Well, I guess there isn't much point in going there now..." She began heading towards the exit. "Come on, let's go find something else to do."

* * *

_The clocktower glitch strikes again? Good thing there exists 'reset'.  
_


	12. Neko Narikiri

"I've decided I'd like a pet," Wind said. "Go and get me a cat."

Jonathan and Charlotte glanced to each other.

"Where can we find a cat...?" the hunter asked, though he was mostly just wondering to himself.

"Nevermind why..." Charlotte added, sounding a bit annoyed.

"I already told you why," Wind replied, sounding equally annoyed. "I want a pet."

Charlotte stared at him for a moment before deciding to not push the question any further, following Jonathan out of the room.

"There aren't really any animals in Castlevania..." she mused. "Even the owls were corrupted by its dark magic."

"Well...I guess we'll have to look in the paintings then," Jonathan concluded. "That's the farthest we can get from Castlevania, right?"

Charlotte looked at him questioningly. "I don't know though. It doesn't seem like they'd be any better off..." She shrugged. "I don't have any other ideas though."

Suddenly, Jonathan's eyes seemed to light up. "Oh, I've got it!" He turned to Charlotte. "Remember the witches at the Dark Academy?" he asked, sounding sure of himself. "If we beat them, they turn into cats!"

Charlotte blinked at him. "That's right..." However logical, what Jonathan was suggesting did feel a bit strange.

"Yeah, no problem, right?" Jonathan said enthusiastically as heading off to the academy proper, not even bothered by the incessant rain.

* * *

"Turn into a CAT!" Jonathan shouted as he leapt up the stairs, holy cross in hand, aiming for the witch hovering there. His aim was true and there was a puff of smoke, and a small black cat wearing a witch's hat jumped out and rushed away.

"Quick! After it!" Charlotte shouted as the pair began their pursuit.

"I know!" Jonathan replied, weaving between bookcases as he tried to get close enough to grab the small animal. As you might expect, however, the feline was fast and agile, which meant that while Jonathan was faster, the zig-zagging route he had to follow let the cat stay ahead.

The scene was rather humorous to watch, actually; the two hunters comically trying to keep up with the small animal as it effectively led them in circles.

"Jonathan...!" Charlotte spoke up, running out of breath. "I can't keep running like this...!" She turned when she received no response. "Jonathan...?"

"Gotcha!" The hunter suddenly exclaimed, leaping out in front of the cat and grabbing hold with both hands. His satisfaction, however, turned to surprise when the feline dissolved into another puff of smoke the moment his hands touched it. "What...?"

Any further confusion was cut off when Charlotte, still looking the other way, ran into Jonathan. The two collapsed into a heap and there was a short silence before the hunter spoke.

"You okay?"

"I'm tired," Charlotte replied as she caught her breath.

"...Do you want me to carry you?" Jonathan asked.

"W-What? Of course not!" The mage replied quickly, turning away.

"Well, could you get off of me then?"

Charlotte complied with the request hurriedly, but said nothing as Jonathan got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Should we head back to Wind then?" Charlotte suggested, a bit sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess," Jonathan said with a nod.

* * *

"...and then it was gone, in another puff of smoke," Jonathan said to the spirit, sounding rather annoyed. "What do we do?"

Wind shrugged, as he always does, as if to say 'not my problem'.

"Come on," Jonathan pressed. "You have to have _some_ idea. You've always given us quests for things we could find before."

The ghost sighed. "...You understand that witches turn into cats when defeated, correct?"

Jonathan nodded, not sure where Wind was going with this. They'd already tried that, to no avail.

"Charlotte is a witch, so if you defeated her then perhaps she would turn into a cat as well." Like everything else Wind suggested, it was said with perfect deadpan.

"W-What?" Charlotte exclaimed in surprise. "That's...!" She glanced between Jonathan and Wind, uncertainty on her face. Surely Jonathan wouldn't even consider it.

...Right?

"Urgh..." Jonathan groaned as he rubbed the back of his head where Charlotte had hit him with her book. "Why does she always hit me?"

Wind simply chuckled.

* * *

_Little does Jona-san know that it is Wind's goal in (after)life to mastermind plots to get Jonathan hit. *evil laughter*_


	13. Neko Narikiri 2

_Jona-san is a 100% completionist, even for silly quests._

* * *

"Why are we still looking for a cat?" Charlotte asked as they walked down the castle corridor outside Wind's room.

"Death before surrender!" Jonathan declared loudly. "I'm not going to let any quest go!"

"...Did you have a plan to find us a cat, then?" the mage replied.

"Well," he started, turning to look at her. "We were going to go back to the Dark Academy and try again."

Charlotte stopped walking. "...And you think something different is going to happen this time?" She gave Jonathan a critical look. "We need to think of something else."

"Hey, how can you know that?" Jonathan asked, sounding a bit offended.

"I think it's reasonable to except the same results if we do the same thing," she said flatly.

Jonathan was silent for a moment. "What if you just summoned a cat for Wind?"

"And how would I do that?"

"Um...magic...?" the hunter offered lamely.

Charlotte sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's not that simple."

"Yeah it is," Jonathan countered, despite not having any idea what he was talking about. "When you cast Explosion it summons a bottle that explodes. Or when you use Spirit of Light it summons a spirit." He gestured, but the gestures were pointless and didn't mean anything outside of his own mind. "So why not just summon a cat?"

Charlotte briefly imagined summoning a cat that would run into Wind and explode. It was a pity that he was already dead. She turned to the hunter. "Jonathan. Magic doesn't work that way."

"Oh! I have a great idea!" Jonathan suddenly shouted, causing Charlotte to jump in surprise. "Okay. You know how you turn into a cat, right?"

"I don't–" the mage started to interrupt, but Jonathan kept speaking.

"What if I gave you to Wind? Then I could get the re–"

"That's...that's completely stupid!" Charlotte shouted over the hunter. "No! And besides–"

"Wait wait! I'm not done!" Jonathan successfully made himself heard. "And be quieter, or Wind is going to hear it! Now after I get the reward, I can use the Call Cube to get you back."

"Stop treating me like an object!" Charlotte knocked Jonathan to the floor via her book hitting his head. "...And I do not turn into a cat!"

"What?" Jonathan looked up at her from his sitting position on the floor. "But you're a witch."

"So what?" she demanded, practically shouting into the hunter's face. "Just because I'm a witch doesn't mean I can turn into a cat!"

Jonathan sat there staring at her silently, one hand supporting himself and the other held up tentatively to defend himself. "I think you're getting kind of worked up for no reason..." he said meekly.

"It's not for no reason!" Charlotte countered as Jonathan slid back and started to get to his feet. "Your idea is so stupid I can't even think of anything else to say about it!"

"Well," Jonathan began, looking back at the mage. "I was just trying to think of ways to complete the quest. I mean, I thought that maybe if I just said my ideas out loud maybe you could get a better one from them." He looked off down the corridor and shrugged. "Sorry."

Though it was completely unintentional, the particular phrasing of his statement managed to cast all his previous 'ideas' into a much kinder light. Indeed, the complete honesty with which Jonathan made the remark placed the blame firmly on Charlotte's shoulders and made her feel more than a little guilty for shouting at him.

"I..." Charlotte started, looking to the floor as she tried to find the best way to phrase her response. "No, I'm sorry...I shouldn't have shouted at you like that..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Jonathan replied with his characteristic smile. "No problem, we're friends, right?"

"R-Right," Charlotte agreed, feeling a bit better.

"We still need to find Wind a cat, though," Jonathan continued, looking pensive. "If the witches aren't an option, what can we do?"

Charlotte was silent for a moment before speaking up. "You know you mentioned magic before?" The hunter nodded. "Well, I could try watching how the witches and see if I can learn something from it."

Jonathan tilted his head in question. "You could do that?"

"I've never tried it but it should be possible."

"All right then!" Jonathan smirked. "To the Dark Academy!"

Charlotte returned the smile. "It's showtime, right?"

"Hey," Jonathan said with mock hurt. "That's my line." He paused for a moment before smirking again. "You like it?"

* * *

"Okay," Jonathan said from their position in the doorway. "I'll go and distract the witch while you try to figure out the spell."

"Right," came Charlotte's reply.

The hunter leapt forward, announcing his presence with a shout. "Come on! Try and hit me!"

Just as they'd wanted, the witch summoned a black cat and sent it running towards Jonathan. However, using the Morris family's ultimate defense technique, he was able to defend against the attack with really only minor damage to his jacket before the cat vannished.

"Heh. Is that all?" Jonathan continued taunting. "Do your worst! I can take it!"

The apprentice witch advanced slowly towards him, brandishing her broomstick threateningly.

"Hey, hey!" Jonathan backed away slowly.

"Jonathan!" Charlotte called out from the doorway. "I need to see the cat summon spell more if we want this to work."

"I know!" the hunter called back, sounding annoyed as he turned to the mage. He knew what they needed, but this witch wasn't being cooperative. "It's not my–!" He was cut off when the end of the witch's broomstick collided with the back of his head, knocking him to the floor with an odd sense of déjà vu.

Jonathan scrambled to his feet and created some distance between himself and his target again.

* * *

Charlotte's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait! I think...!" She quickly summoned some magical energy and began preparing the spell. "By the sworn contract between us, I summon thee! Come forth, CAT!"

From the sigil floating before Charlotte, a cat sprung forth with a meow.

"Yeah!" Jonathan cheered. "Nice work, Charlotte!"

There was a crack as he was floored again by the witch's broom. Apparently, the force of the repeatedly blows had caused it to finally break in two. She stared at the two broken pieces with a look of confusion and surprise as Jonathan stood up again. She stepped back in fear as the hunter turned to her.

"Well, we don't need you any more now, do we..." he said ominously. "So you can go now. Later."

The witch blinked at him for a moment before gathering the other piece of her broom and running off.

Jonathan turned to Charlotte with a smile. "This is great; now – huh?" He looked down to see the cat rubbing up against his leg affectionately. "Hey, stop that," he complained as he tried to step away. "I'll accidentally step on you."

The animal just looked up at him with it's large eyes and moved over to him again. Jonathan looked to Charlotte with embarrassed confusion on his face. "Uh, can you do something about it?"

Charlotte walked over to the cat and picked it up, the animal making a small mew as she did so. "Stop squirming," she told it as she tried to situate it in her arms. Before that could happen, however, the cat leapt from her to Jonathan, sinking it's claws into his jacket to hold on.

The hunter stumbled, nearly losing his balance. He reached up and grabbed the cat, managing to keep it from tearing his coat. When he did, though, it immediately shifted itself and laid down in his arms, starting to purr happily.

Jonathan blinked at it silently before looking to Charlotte.

"W-What?" the mage stammered with a light blush.

"I guess I'll hold it then..." Jonathan said quietly.

"Well, this certainly took a long time..." Charlotte continued quickly, hoping to change the subject.

"Yeah... Good thing you don't have to learn all your spells that way."

Charlotte imagined having to allow enemies to do their spells over and over until she could memorize the method. That could take over a half hour for just one spell!

* * *

"_Charlotte..." Jonathan called weakly, hiding behind Charlotte's magical shield. "Can we defeat Dracula yet?"_

"_Not yet!" she replied as the Count's fireballs crashed into it. "I still haven't learned Hellfire."_

_Dracula vanished into another pillar of light before he reappeared on the other side of the room. He wasn't even bothering with the evil laughter or dramatic cape movements any more. Instead, he'd just lackadaisically gesture in Charlotte's direction, sending an attack her way._

"_It's been, what, twenty minutes?" Jonathan complained. "We should just give up."_

"_No!" Charlotte retorted, stepping out of the way of a flame pillar. "Did you forget who healed you while you threw daggers at Menace's foot with an Astral Ring on? You owe me."_

* * *

She shook her head. "Ugh. That would be horrible."

"Well, we should get back to Wind then," Jonathan said, sounding happier now that the quest was on the brink of completion.

"Wind!" Jonathan called as the two (or rather, three) entered the ghost's chamber. "We got you a cat!"

"Oh?" The spirit raised an eyebrow. "So you did."

"Here you go," the hunter said as he offered the animal to him. "Hey, let go," he complained to the cat as it refused to unclaw itself from his coat, even as Wind patiently removed each of its paws' grip.

"Well done," Wind said as he always did, though this time was a bit more comical since he was now holding a cat in his arms as he said it. "Let me get you a reward..."

Jonathan and Charlotte looked to each other. "I wonder what kind of reward he's going to give us for this," Jonathan mused.

When they looked back, the spirit was holding out to Jonathan a circlet. "A cat eye circlet," he supplied as Jonathan accepted it. "Get by a cat with it on and you can see how it is useful."

"Huh, I guess that's – wait." Jonathan looked to Wind again, confirming what he had just seen. "What happened to the cat?"

Wind gave him one of those looks that implied that his question was absurd. "I put it away."

Charlotte blinked in confusion. "...To where?"

"Yeah...that reminds me. Where _do_ you keep all this stuff anyway? Like the Alucard Spear and the cat, where does it go? It's not like you have enough room in your coat for all of it."

Wind put his hand to his forehead in seeming exasperation. "Show me the Alucard Spear," he said simply.

Jonathan produced the weapon. "It's here, but I don't really see what the point is."

"Now how do you put it away?" the ghost asked.

"Well, that's simple. I just put it in my coat and...um..." The hunter looked confused as he looked down at his jacket.

Wind smirked.

* * *

シャロ「ショータイム、ね？」

ジョナさん「俺のセリフは、どう？」


End file.
